gardening and family life by the sea

In a Vase on Monday: better late than never

I completely forgot about Cathy’s ikebana challenge for this week’s Monday vase (oops) and instead went for a soft confection of whites, pinks and purples in a departure from the bold colours of recent weeks. I started with sweet peas ‘Anniversary’ and ‘Windsor’ (sowed in early March) which have started to flower well, despite being completely tray-bound due to me completely neglecting them and late planting out… It is said that sweet peas hate having their roots disturbed but I had to pull each one apart in an attempt to untangle them before planting them in the ground. They seem to have recovered from the indignity and are flowering away happily.

I’m also delighted that all the cosmos plants we finally got into the ground a few weeks ago have settled in, are covered with buds and now flowering well. These had also become very pot-bound and leggy and I cut them back quite hard, snipping off many flower buds in the process, to encourage vigorous growth. This always seems drastic and I hate doing it but it seems to have worked. They should keep flowering until at least October.

Instead of the blue/purple anemone I showed you last week, I’ve picked the delicate white Anemone coronaria ‘The Bride’, which is also looking lovely at the moment. Finally, some lavender (because it smells gorgeous and is at its peak), a couple of stems of an unknown pink penstemon (bought at a plant sale last year; I’ve lost the label) and a few sprigs of pink Linariapurpurea (toadflax) complete the bunch.

28 thoughts on “In a Vase on Monday: better late than never”

Another gorgeous bouquet. I love pink and red together and the purple works so well with them. The first time I ever went to a dance with a boy, in high school, he brought me a wrist corsage with pink, red and purple flowers. I’m not even sure what kind they were, but it was the prettiest arrangement. I liked the flowers more than I ended up liking him, actually. 🙂

Love the colours! I had never heard the word ‘ikabana’ before, and clicked through to find out more, and decided I much prefer a naturalistic arrangement than the ikabana style, though it is a terrific word! X

It’s a pretty combination, Sam. I wonder if it’s too late to get cosmos going in my own garden – it’s a wonderful summer flower. I put in some plugs back in February (when the plants first become available here), only to have them beaten down by an early heatwave and I haven’t attempted another round.

The Bride is so stunningly white and perfect – as she should be of course – and the dark pink cosmos is gorgeous. The lavender made the perfect finishing touch too. Thanks for sharing – and wel done for your general maintenance tasks of snipping and the like!

Look forward to visiting every week, Sam. Am sad though that the pictures no longer go large when I click on them — so no scrumptious detail. Have you changed something or is it me?! Thank you, as always. Marta